Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Different Kind of Hero	By : JunjouSlashGirl Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 53264 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 10
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters. All rights belong to J. K. Rowling. I do not earn any money with this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Chapter 7: Back to Grimmauld Place
HP
When Harry came downstairs the next morning, closely followed by Lucius, he immediately noticed that Snape looked grumpier than the last couple of days. He almost looked as bad tempered as he was in Harry's potions lessons. Glancing suspiciously over at his mate, Harry saw that Lucius had noticed it as well. With a raised eyebrow the Malfoy patriarch strode into the kitchen asking: "Have you botched up a potion?"
Harry was glad that he still stood in the shadows of the doorway when Severus glanced up from a small notebook and glared fiercely at Lucius. Naturally, the vampire was not very impressed.
"I never botch up a potion, but I spend over an hour yesterday involuntarily listening to you and Potter! Use some silencing spells next time!" Snape snapped.
Harry flinched, he knew that Lucius had been quiet last night during their first exchange of blood but he had been very vocal. That was so embarrassing! His professor had practically witnessed him receiving a handjob!
Lucius meanwhile seemed unruffled by his friends scolding or the fact that the man had heard his young mate getting off on drinking blood.
"Do not hide in the shadows like a criminal," Lucius commanded him with an elegant wink. "Severus is only jealous, because he does not such a beautiful young mate as I have."
Snape snorted: "Young indeed. A child would be more accurate."
"But a very beautiful and eager one," Lucius smirked and turned to glare commandingly at Harry, who finally stepped into the kitchen at his mates disapproving glare, giving an apologetic mewl. Harry flushed in irritation, he had never made such a submissive noise and he never had the urge to apologize in this way to his dominant for not directly following his orders either. He sat down between the two men and Severus pushed a small leather bag at him and Lucius each.
Harry sniffed curiously at the bag and could smell the scent of blood, but it was certainly not Lucius'.
"What is this?" Lucius asked curiously.
"These are Blood Drops. Not the cheap one for wizards you get in Honeydukes, but the original one. I made them after a recipe from a notebook my late vampire relative wrote. They won't taste as good as your own blood, but better than any food," Snape explained.
"Thank you, why did you make them?" Harry asked.
"You will be separated for at least a few days, maybe even a week and I hope that they will help you two to keep calm. Blood Drops are Vampire Candy. There are different flavours; my relative wrote down that vampires can taste the difference between the different blood types used, so I made a selection. You can tell me which one you liked most, when you have tried them all."
"What kind of blood did you use?" Lucius had narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
"Do not look at me like that Lucius! You should know that I would never give you something made from rat blood or some other lowly and dirty creatures. But thinking about it, if I ever have the joy of killing that disgrace of a wizard named Peter Pettigrew, you two might get some Rat Drops after all," the Potions Master smirked evilly and Harry had the peculiar feeling that he would not kill the Death Eater before opening some wounds to gather his blood.
Lucius had wrinkled his nose, a disgusted look on his face: "I will never eat something that is made with his blood."
Harry snickered and took a small candy from the bag. They really did taste quite good, not as good as Lucius’ blood; Severus had predicted that already, but better than anything else he had tried to eat since his transformation. Rolling the bonbon around in his mouth for a moment, he decided that it tasted like some kind of bird; which one he could not say, but he was sure that the knowledge would come given some time. Maybe after drinking some of Lucius’ blood; he had felt that he had gotten stronger this morning.
"So, what animals did you use?" Lucius asked again.
Snape sighed: "Cats, a dog, some duck and even a kneezel. Nothing disgusting or even special, it was my first try to brew Vampire Candy after all."
"You brewed it?" Harry wondered.
"Yes, you need to melt the sugar and to mix the blood with the other ingredients."
"They really are good. It tastes like real blood, only a bit sweeter," Harry grinned, happily sucking on his bonbon.
"Good. Have you already packed?" Snape enquired.
"We have," Lucius said, eyeing Harry's lips, which were currently even redder than usual due to the Blood Drops. Harry of course, didn't notice anything and just frowned at the mention of packing.
"I would suggest, that you perform your glamours now, so that I can see if they work properly," Snape suggested.
Harry eyed Lucius intently, he really hoped that not too much of his vampire characteristics would disappear. Lucius looked back at him with equal sullenness, before concentrating. Harry watched in sad awe, as his mate’s beautiful fangs and claws disappeared and the red ring around his silver irises. Otherwise, luckily, he looked the same. He was still paler than before, his hair had grown about two hands during his change and his enhanced elegance still remained as well.
"Can't you make it that the glamour only works for people who don't know about us yet? He asked hopefully. Hermione had once told him that powerful wizards could do such things.
Lucius' face hardened as he concentrated once more and Harry watched him eagerly. He nearly thought that nothing would happen after a minute of watching, but then Lucius’ fangs and the red ring around his eyes appeared again.
"Did it work?" Lucius asked and Harry and Snape nodded in unison.
Now Harry concentrated, but in contrast to Lucius, he closed his eyes. Feeling inside his magic, he tried to remember what his bushy haired friend had once told him about glamours. Besides the spell, one had to imagine the result he wished. He mused that he would not need any spell, because the glamour was a natural power of a blood mate and just concentrated on his image without fangs, claws and red encircled eyes; making sure to keep his wish in mind that Lucius would still be able to see his true form. His magic flowed over his body and he opened his eyes again.
Snape studied him with a frown: "It will be enough, even though it is still clear that you have changed anyone who sees you regularly will notice the differences. It is even more obvious with you than with Lucius."
"What do you mean it is even more obvious with me?" Harry asked a bit annoyed that his glamour apparently was not as good as his mates.
"You were very toned before and being a submissive, your eyes have grown to an unnatural size for a human," Lucius explained calmly, staring into Harry's green orbs. Harry flushed and lowered his gaze quickly before Severus could notice something, the man had witnessed enough already as it was.
"The only problem is that you two are obviously unable to glamour your mating marks," Severus said. Harry looked down on his right hand and then at Lucius’ and saw that the Potions Master was right, their marks were still very visible.
"We should have guessed as much," Lucius mused idly.
"Well, any suggestion on how to erase the problem?" the Potions Master sneered, obviously getting impatient.
"We have to cover them, obviously," Lucius stated the obvious.
Harry rummaged his mind for a solution. Suddenly, he had an idea. "Wait here!" he exclaimed and ran up to the bathroom, quickly coming back with two rolls of bandages.
"We will use these until we find something better," Harry announced, holding the items up.
"I will not be seen with bandages around my hand, let alone muggle bandages," Lucius scoffed.
Harry rolled his eyes at his stubborn mate: "No one will notice that they are muggle."
"Lucius, your house is under supervision. I know that you would prefer your gloves, but you will have to go to the Dark Lord first thing, or the death eaters will try to kill you and find out that you have betrayed their master and this would endanger your mate," Snape said calmly.
Glaring at Snape, Lucius snatched the bandage from Harry and spelled them to wrap around his right hand, before ensuring its hold with a sticking spell, then he did the same for Harry. Harry gasped when his mate’s magic washed over him and send little tingles through his whole system. Lucius raised a questioning eyebrow at him, but Harry refused to elaborate in Severus’ presence. An understanding and very smug smirk spread over his dominant's face. Unfortunately, this time Snape had noticed something and eyed Harry with open disgust: "Potter, there are some things I really didn't want to know about, including all your kinks."
Harry spluttered at the word kinks, but had to admit that Severus’ description was right; at least if he interpreted the very interested stirring in his lower region the right way. The Potions Master cleared his throat and said: "I will leave you two alone for a moment, so that you can say goodbye in private." The man walked out and closed the kitchen door behind him.
Harry stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, he wanted to run to Lucius and hug him, but the man was always so correct about what was adequate and what was not, that he didn't know if he would be allowed to do that.
"Harry, you do not have to hold back when we are in private," Lucius said and opened his arms in an invitation.
Harry ran over and clutched the taller man around his midsection: "I don't want to leave you!" The time they would have to spend apart already felt too long and it hadn't even started.
"I do not wish to leave you either, but we have to separate, at least for a short while," Lucius whispered and bent down to give him a tender kiss on his head.
"Do you promise me that it will be only for a short while?" Harry hiccupped, trying not to cry.
"I promise, it will never be more than some days; neither this holiday, nor after you have gone back to Hogwarts. We will still find time to see each other, I already have a plan," Lucius said and lifted Harry's face gently to stroke over his cheek softly with his thumb.
Harry flung his arms around his mate's neck and pulled himself up, to press his lips to Lucius'. Lucius hummed in appreciation and let him dominate the kiss for a moment, before taking the lead and deepening the, so far, innocent kiss. Harry enjoyed the strong hands roaming his body and the sharp claws scratching over his sensitive neck one last time, leaving yet another mark there. All too soon Lucius pulled back and stepped a small step away from him.
"Do we really need to go now?" Harry asked silently.
Lucius only nodded.
Sighing, Harry grabbed his small leather bag and tied it to one of his belt loops, before giving Lucius one last peck on his cheek and opening the door again. Snape waited for them in the living room; he had apparently used the time to accio their trunks from their shared bedroom.
Something nudged his leg: "Are we going somewhere?"
Harry looked down and saw Nagini eyeing him curiously.
"Yes, we will go to Grimmauld Place," Harry explained sadly.
"Why are you so sad? Is your mate not coming with us?" the intelligent snake asked.
"No, he has to go to his old Master so that he can work as a spy for me," Harry explained.
"I will comfort you when you feel lonely little Master," Nagini promised and slithered up Harry's body to wind herself around Harry's slim frame a few times. Luckily, he was now stronger; otherwise he would have fallen under the weight of his familiar.
"Thank you, Nagini," Harry smiled softly at her and patted her head thankfully.
"Are you ready Harry? You will go first, after that Lucius and I will apparate to the Dark Lord's hideout," Snape said.
Harry nodded and grabbed a hand of floo powder from a small bag that the man offered him. He wanted to step closer to the fireplace when Lucius grasped his shoulder and pulled him back. Harry could feel his heart speeding up when his mate leaned over his shoulder whispering: "I will miss you, Harry."
Harry wanted to say that he would miss him as well, but his mouth was dry and his throat seemed to be closed off; before he could regain his ability to speak, Lucius had already let go of him and pushed him gently but firmly to the fireplace.
"I will visit the headquarters as soon as I can," the Potions Master promised, but Harry barely heard him. He was concentrating too much on not turning around and clutching onto his mate, refusing to leave him, despite all promises, they didn't help the rising desperation in his chest and heart.
Closing his eyes, he threw the powder into the hearth and said: "Grimmauld Place Number 12!"
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HP
He was swirled around and his landing was even more ungraceful than usual, due to the huge reptile wrapped around his body. He landed with a loud thud and face down on the old rug in front of the fireplace. For a second silence filled the room and then chaos erupted.
"Harry!" shrieked a voice and he was sure that he would be crushed by Hermione in a moment, but the attack never came, instead a second shriek and then:
"Sirius! Remus! Harry is back but he needs help, hurry!"
Harry barely had time to scramble to his feet when his two guardians appeared in the doorway to the dingy living room, wands outstretched and pointed at his new familiar.
Nagini, who obviously thought that the threat was meant for Harry rose high above their heads, hissing and spitting acidic venom threateningly.
"Stop, everyone!" Harry shouted and repeated the command in parseltongue for Nagini’s benefit. His voice must have sounded demanding enough because Sirius, Remus, Ron and Hermione lowered their wands and Nagini relaxed immediately, curling once around his waist and laying her heavy head on his shoulders.
"Harry what happened?" Hermione asked.
"I would explain everything if you would all just give me the chance and not attack me at first sight," Harry snapped irritably; the rough landing after floo’ing and the far too early separation from his mate making him short-tempered.
"We didn't attack you, just that evil snake," Sirius protested, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"That is stupid and unnecessary as well, Nagini has bonded herself to me as a familiar," Harry explained with a sigh, he really wished that they could just sit down and talk in peace for a moment; they would not accomplish anything like this, standing in an dirty living room, wands down but still at the ready.
"What?" Ron asked incredulously.
"Well, it's a long story," Harry muttered and scratched his head.
"Are you sure that you can trust her?" Hermione asked carefully from her place by the couch.
"Yeah, I am. She listens to my orders, she did that even before she bonded to me as her master and behaves more like a human friend, than a reptile," Harry mused, not sure how he should explain his trust in the snake.
"Well, she was Voldemort's snake; you should be careful, she is poisonous after all," Hermione reminded him unnecessarily.
"Mione, I lived with her alone at Privet Drive for two weeks, don't you think that she would have already killed me or brought me to Voldemort if that was her plan?"
"But how do you know that she really bound herself to you? Maybe she has just told you a lie," Hermione prodded.
Harry rolled his eyes, sometimes Hermione really should give him more credit: "She marked me," he answered and pointed at the spot beneath his collar bone where the mark laid hidden beneath his t-shirt.
His brainy friend gasped and took a step in his direction, as if she wanted to pull his shirt down and examine it thoroughly, but Harry quickly backed a step further away from her. He could not let Hermione touch him, or she would notice his low body temperature and think that something was wrong with him, which wouldn't be too far from the truth.
At her irritated and worried look he muttered: "It's still very sensitive."
She nodded after a moment of hesitation and Harry covered the mark once more.
"Okay Harry, let's go downstairs and sit down and talk," Remus proposed suddenly, luckily noticing that this useless argument could go on for hours if nobody interrupted Hermione.
"Finally!" Harry sighed and the little group went into the kitchen. Harry took his usual spot and not the one at the head of the table, which he would claim soon enough. He grabbed an empty mug from the middle of the table and poured himself some hot chocolate, not intending to drink it, but to keep up appearance; he had always loved hot chocolate and it would be odd to ignore the pitcher. When he was seated as comfortable as he would get without Lucius next to him, he turned to Remus.
"So Harry, could you tell us what happened?" Remus asked, pouring himself and the others a mug as well.
Harry thought for a moment, he could not tell them everything yet, or more accurate, he could not tell them much at all, so what should he tell them? Maybe he should find out what they already knew first:
"Yeah sure, but what happened after I left?" Harry asked non-committedly.
"We are not sure about all the facts ourselves yet," Remus mused, his brows furrowed.
Well, Harry thought, how could they be if they only knew a fraction of what had happened?
"Dumbledore told us that he believed that Snape took you somewhere safe, but because he had never given the man direct orders, he wasn't really sure where he might have taken you to and he couldn't contact the greasy git either," Sirius huffed.
"And we found out that the Malfoy’s have been killed, at least Draco and his mother, but no one has seen Lucius Malfoy since. Father thinks that he is somewhere in one of his family's Manors, hiding until everything has cooled down. He believes that the arrogant bastard is too clever to let himself be killed by Voldemort and of course, far too loyal, " Ron scoffed, wrinkling his nose with no ounce of sympathy in his voice.
Harry wanted to snap at his best friend for being so cruel and insulting towards his mate, but he hastily bit his tongue to hold himself back and instead asked: "But you don't know what has happened with Lord high and mighty?" He could not start to defend Lucius Malfoy passionately, at least not until he could give them an good explanation and he could not do that, until he had the order under control and even after that, he had to be careful in order to keep their relationship a secret. It was all really annoying.
"No, there has been no word, not even Snape could give us any information," Remus answered, confirming what Ron had said earlier.
Harry sighed in relief, that would make everything easier for him, he could just tell them he didn't know anything either and introduce Lucius as a spy later. Hopefully not too much later; already his body felt cold as death itself, even colder than when he was not touching the aristocrat, but only in close proximity. Sadly he had to ignore the uncomfortable feeling for now.
"Well, I don't know anything about that arrogant bastard either," he began; it hurt to call his mate such names. Every time he insulted the man, a piercing pain shot through his dead heart, like a punishment.
"But Dumbledore was right; Snape took me away to the Dursley’s house to be precise. The problem was that the Death Eaters had been there and they had killed my relatives. And Nagini had somehow grabbed onto me before Snape apparated me away, so we had to secure the blood wards and deal with her; there was no safe possibility to come back earlier."
"So, you lived with that overgrown bat for nearly two weeks?" Sirius eyes nearly fell out of his sockets and Hermione made a sympathetic face.
"Mate, I really feel with you; that must have been the two worst weeks of your life!" Ron exclaimed.
Harry's head spun around at the word mate and he glared fiercely at Ron, no one other than Lucius had the right to call him that.
Ron backed away at Harry's look and lifted his hands in a calming gesture: "Wow, calm down, just say if you don't want me to call you my best mate anymore." Ron's gaze was more calculating than Harry had ever seen and he had the unsettling feeling that his best friend had just caught up on something. A short glance over at Hermione told him that she was still none the wiser; that was strange, because she always caught up to everything before he and Ron did.
Turning back to Ron, he mumbled apologetically: "Yeah, that would be nice, Snape mocked me nearly two weeks with that title; I can't hear the word mate anymore. Sorry."
Ron obviously didn't buy his explanation but nodded anyway and a wave of love towards his friend flooded over Harry. Ron was the best friend he could wish for; no one else accepted his obvious lies as easily for what they were: The unspoken confession that he couldn't or didn't want to talk about the matter right now. Ron knew that Harry would come to him as soon as he was ready and tell him everything; that trust was the basis of their friendship.
"Harry, you just said that you ensured the blood wards, how?" Remus interrupted his train of thoughts.
"I did a strange ritual, using my blood on the Dursley’s grounds. It was a ritual in parseltongue;" Harry explained.
Sirius eyes darkened: "That sounds like dark magic... I will kill the git! Teaching you those kinds of spells, he should be thrown out of the Order!"
"Would it have been better if Voldemort could have just apparated into my bedroom?" Harry asked irritably, sometimes his godfather was too narrow minded. His hate of everything considered dark, made him a good wizard, but not the most helpful Order Member. Sometimes, it would be more helpful if he knew just as much about that stuff as Snape and Lucius did.
"No, of course not!" Sirius exclaimed. "I am only worried, Harry. Dark Magic can be tempting like a drug if you are not careful. Believe me; I have seen the effect on my brother Regulus. He had always been slightly drawn to dark magic, no real wonder as a Black son, but after he joined the Death Eaters and started to use it regularly, he changed and not in a good way."
Harry's face softened. Sirius had never told him about his late brother before, but by the tone in his voice he could hear that he had loved his brother like a brother should.
"It's okay Harry, you can't just know all of this yet, that is why we are all here to help you," Sirius smiled at him.
"Harry?" Harry turned his face to Hermione, who chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip. "How exactly did you end up with Nagini as your familiar?" she asked him.
Harry had to think carefully about the answer he would give her, but after a moment of contemplation noticed that it really wasn't so difficult. He would just tell her the truth and leave the part with their matching scars out:
"Well, we could not let her go and therefore spent some time together. I think she just started to trust me when I treated her nicely and some days ago, she told me that she had never bound herself to Voldemort. He apparently captured her and forced her to stay with him. I told her that I would protect her, if she wanted my help and she just...bit me."
Hermione gasped. Harry winced, maybe he should have put his explanation into nicer words, but since his change he had lost the feeling for what others would consider shocking and brutal. Sure, the marking had hurt, but he had not died; of course not. But considering his friend, it had probably been the right, but not the best way to describe the binding ritual to her, but luckily, Remus laid a calming hand on her shoulder:
"Don't worry too much Hermione; it is quite normal for a familiar to mark its master."
"I know, but Nagini is poisonous, I just feared that it could have harmed Harry in the beginning."
Harry wanted to snort; if they all just knew that he had been long dead by his marking... but they didn't and it was better this way.
"Pup, would you show us where she has marked you?" Sirius asked and Harry nodded after a moment of hesitation, pulling the collar of his t-shirt down; it wasn't as if they could see his bond to Lucius in this one and with the table between them, no one would be able to touch him so easily. The ying-yang shaped mark appeared and everybody leaned forwards to get a better look.
"Very impressive; it looks like a strong binding, otherwise you would only have two small scars," Remus mused. When Harry frowned he explained: "The more powerful a bond is the more detailed the mark is."
Harry had to think of his beautiful and detailed mating mark and flushed; luckily they could not smell his flush in the way Lucius always did and noticed nothing. So, did that mean that he and his mate shared a very strong bond? Harry hoped so, he had not yet thought about what exactly he felt for the aristocrat, thinking that Lucius would give him some time to sort his feelings out, after all, he was very inexperienced with relationships and their past had not been a good one, but he definitively liked the sound of a strong bond.
"Harry, what happened to your right hand?" asked Hermione worriedly at that moment.
‘Speaking of the devil,’ Harry thought, inwardly sighing. Nagini nudged his hand and he began absentmindedly patting her; earning a few curious looks from everybody, using the time everybody was distracted to think up a lie.
"Voldemort hit me with a nasty curse. I ducked, but it still caught my hand. Snape already examined and healed it, but it has left a gruesome scar..." Harry explained in way of an answer.
"But Harry, there is no need to be embarrassed of a scar, it doesn't makes you uglier or anything," Hermione advised him.
"I know, but I already have a bloody scar and I don't want to be famous for a second one," Harry apologized to himself. Her face softened in understanding and she squeezed his shoulder softly; Harry barely noticed her touch, his body needed more force to feel these days, but it was nice to know that his friends cared for him so much nonetheless.
Remus cleared his throat and pulled Harry from his thoughts: "There is something else, we need to tell you."
A lump dropped into his stomach, Harry knew this particular tone of voice; it never meant anything good.
"What is it Remus?" he asked, forcing his voice not to shake; he had to appear strong if he wanted their support after he had taken over the order.
"It’s Hedwig," Sirius said quietly.
"Has something happened to her?" Harry's hands started to tremble, he didn't know how he would react if his owl had been killed. She had been his first present and a friend, even before he had gotten to know Ron.
"She was injured by the attack of Kings Cross...she is alive, but she won't be able to fly long distances anymore," Sirius told him.
His already dead and cold body seemed to freeze. How could someone have attacked an innocent owl? He wanted to find the culprit and rip his throat apart. Red-hot anger boiled in his veins and his vision went red for a moment, but he suppressed his rage quickly, before his glamours would not be strong enough to hide his changed body anymore.
"Where is she?" he asked, his voice cold like ice. The others gave him a worried look, but he ignored them.
"In our room," Ron answered and stood up.
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HP
Harry followed him and they went, with Hermione at their heels, up to their shared bedroom. When Harry opened the door, he saw his snowy owl sitting on a perch on the windowsill. She hooted happily as soon as she saw him, but Harry's heart clenched painfully. Hedwig looked battered. Her beautiful feathers were dishevelled, there were bare spots on her wings and a scar ran from her left eye to her beak. He ran over to her and she hopped onto his outstretched arm, hooting welcomingly. Patting her back, he turned to his two friends: "I can't understand why someone would attack an innocent owl."
"I think, it was just the fact that she belonged to ...someone of the light side," Hermione whispered, sadness in her voice. Harry knew that she had wanted to say: ‘That she belonged to you’, but didn't comment on it, he was past the point where he drowned in sadness whenever someone was hurt because of him. Sure, he still felt sorrow and anger, but he had decided to take matters in his own hands instead of wallowing in sadness and despair.
"Is she your other familiar?" Nagini hissed, she had glided off his body and was now curled up on his bed, Harry mused that she had smelled that it was his.
"Her name is Hedwig, she is my oldest friend, but she got injured by your old master," Harry answered her.
"You will revenge her one day," Nagini hissed matter of factly, coaxing a smile from Harry.
"It is really scary to hear you talk with Voldemort's snake so casually," Ron muttered from his seat on his own bed.
"Her name is Nagini and she was never Voldemort's snake," Harry explained sternly, he wouldn't let his new familiar be harassed only because of a past connection to Voldemort she had never wished for. That would similar to someone saying he was a Death Eater only because of his cured scar.
"I think she will be a great help," Hermione said. "I mean, Voldemort would have never captured a weak familiar and she must have a lot of inside information on him and his servants, even though she was not there out of her own free will."
"No, he wouldn't," Harry agreed, wondering slightly about her sudden mood change in regards to his new pet.
Looking around Ron and his shared room, he noticed for the first time that there was a third bed. "Why is there another bed?" he asked.
"I am sleeping here as well. Ginny and Molly, Arthur, Fred, George and even Charley will arrive later today and it will be very crowded here," Hermione explained.
"Yeah, even the greasy git has requested a room to sleep in. I really can't imagine why... Snape never wanted to stay here," Ron muttered darkly.
Harry could think of a reason, but he would not share his assumption with his friends, so he just asked: "How do you know that?"
"He sent an owl this morning, telling us that he would arrive tomorrow and needed a room and basically commanded Sirius to give him entrance to the old Potions Lab in the cellar," Ron elaborated.
"This sounds like him, even Private Drive now has a Potions Lab," Harry grimaced for good measure, even though he just wanted to laugh, he had learned to appreciate the man's intelligent and sharp humour in the last weeks. Snape really was not a very pleasant person and they would never be considered friends, but after their peace-agreement, Harry had realized that he was a good and loyal ally; after all, you didn't have to like your ally’s, but Ron would never understand his new point of view.
"Really?" Hermione asked curiously. "But you can’t just change a room in a house which doesn't belong to you," she advised him. Somehow, Harry mused inwardly, he should have expected that she would pick up on this one point of the whole story. Other people might have asked him why he had given his hated professor a room in the first place, but not Hermione.
"Good then that I am my late family's only heir," Harry grinned back.
"What?" Ron asked. "But wasn't there that scary aunt of yours that you blew up before our third year?
Harry snickered, remembering the incident with aunt Marge. Now that he knew that he would not be expelled because of his independent acting magic, he could laugh about it.
"She died because of a stroke and now everything is mine, the house, their money and even their car." His eyes widened in realization: "I have a car! And a good one at that!"
"Yes, and you are still not allowed to drive it," Hermione said sternly.
Harry ignored the fact that he would in reality never be old enough to drive a car and grinned back at Ron, who looked all too happy in an evil kind of way.
"Harry, that is brilliant, they would be so mad if they knew!" the redhead laughed.
"They would," Harry agreed.
"Maybe my dad can teach the car to fly? Or at least enlarge the space, so that we don’t have to borrow one from the Ministry every time we need one?"
"Sure, we can fetch it one of these days, I have the key with me, it is on the key ring of my uncle," Harry mused.
"But you won't fetch it yourself?" Hermione asked in a voice that told him the expected answer.
"No, of course not. I don't need any more problems with the Ministry because the muggle police caught me. Maybe I can ask the greasy git; after all, he is a Half-blood and grew up in the same town as my mother did; they were even childhood friends," Harry smirked, thinking about forcing Severus to drive his uncle’s Mercedes.
Ron's eyes nearly fell out of his sockets: "What? Your mother and that over large bat? That makes him nearly your uncle!"
Harry made a face, sure he had come to an understanding with his professor, he even trusted him in some way, but that still sounded too close to a personal relationship for him to be comfortable with. He could never imagine the man anything else other than his teacher and ally against Voldemort
"No, I don't think so, they had a fall out in his seventh year," he explained.
"Harry, you have come to know him quite well," Hermione commented.
"Not really, but we could not insult each other day after day; it would have become tiresome at some point."
"I really don't know what I would say if I found out that you were friends with him now, it would be nearly as bad as befriending a Malfoy," Ron commented lightly, but Harry winced. If Ron would not like him being friends with a Malfoy, what would he say if he found out that he was mated to the older one? They both had considered Lucius even worse than his son, because in contrast to Draco, the man was really intelligent, powerful and cunning. Deciding that he would think about how to break the news to his best friends when he really needed to, he dropped the thoughts.
"Harry, would you like to lay down for a bit?" Hermione asked suddenly and he looked at her questioningly: "Why?"
"You look awfully pale and exhausted; I have never seen you like this. It must have been some rough days..." she broke off.
"Yeah, sure..." Harry said, he was not tired in the slightest and laying down would not help his pale complexion either. "But I am honestly not tired at all."
Ron eyed him again as if he knew something he shouldn't, but said nothing.
"Well, if you are sure. Ah! I just remembered, your Hogwarts letter arrived a few days ago," the girl said and walked over to a very small desk, pulling open the top drawer. She handed him the letter and he opened it quickly. It stated nothing new in particular; the term would start as always on the first of September, eleven days from now and it contained the book list for next year. He noticed that there was no book for DADA and furrowed his brow:
"Do we have no DADA at all next year?" he asked.
"I don't think so," Hermione answered. "I believe that Dumbledore hasn’t found a competent teacher yet and therefore doesn't know which book we will need. The list is probably charmed to update on its own."
"Well, I hope he doesn't give the job to a second Lockhart," Ron muttered.
"I hope there will be no second Moody," Harry added darkly.
Silence fell over the room; it was uncomfortable, everyone was thinking about the horrible end of their last year and Harry's depressed state of mind afterwards. That had luckily changed since his mating and his time with Lucius and Snape. The men had helped him to see things in a different light and to not only blame himself for what had happened.
Hermione cleared her throat and said: "We will go to Diagon Alley sometime this week. Ginny will be so happy to see you again."
Harry winced, he knew that Ron's little sister had a huge crush on him and hoped that she had not become any bolder this summer; he didn't know how he would react to an open attempt to flirt with him, the thought alone made his skin crawl. Something must have shown in his face, because Ron said: "I will help you with her if she goes too far."
"Thanks, Ron, that would be a big help," Harry sighed in relief.
"But why?" Hermione asked. "She is a nice girl and maybe a relationship would cheer you up."
"She is like a sister to me Mione, I could never date her," he half lied.
Hermione frowned: "I would have thought that you would wish for Harry to date your sister, after all, he might become a real relative to you someday then, Ron," Hermione mused.
"But you can't force him to fall in love with her," Ron said wisely.
Hermione blinked in surprised at him: "You are right, but I had hoped for a second girl in our clique." She sighed, but dropped the topic.
"Hey Harry, what would you think of a match of Quidditch once my brothers arrived?" Ron changed the topic.
"I would like that," Harry grinned widely. "I will unpack then so we can start after lunch."
He lifted his trunk onto his bed and opened it only to stare at the upper garment. It was a crisp white button down, one they had bought for Lucius in London. He picked it up and absentmindedly lifted it to his nose, inhaling the scent of his mate. He instantly relaxed a bit more, imagining that Lucius was holding him in his strong arms, but Hermione pulled him out from his blissful state:
"Harry, that is not one of your shirts," she stated matter of factly.
Looking through the room for any idea as to explain how a much too large shirt ended up in his trunk, he hastily said: "I did not have a lot of clothes at Privet Drive without my trunk, so I borrowed that one from Dudley as a night shirt, he doesn't need it anymore anyway."
Ron made a disgusted face: "You are wearing the shirt of a dead person? Harry, that is gross!"
Harry would have to admit that it would have been if it really was Dudley's shirt, but it wasn't and he therefore only shrugged. Besides, he was dead as well, just not the decaying type of dead.
"Ron, I don't think that he pulled the shirt from his dead body, it was most probably a clean one from his wardrobe," Hermione chided him.
"Yeah...well, but still," Ron shivered.
Meanwhile, Harry had hidden the shirt under his covers and started to dump socks into a small drawer. Their cupboard was magically enlarged so that the clothes of all three of them would fit in the small piece of furniture. He was soon finished, after all he didn't own much, but maybe he could buy some new clothes when they were at Diagon Alley. After all, the Dursley’s could not steal his money anymore and it would be nice to have some fitting clothes for a change, and maybe even some that Lucius would appreciate. He blushed at that thought, thinking about what his mate would like. Harry honestly had no idea. Sure, he knew how the man dressed himself and even how his son had dressed, but that didn't mean that he found these things alluring or even arousing.
He blushed even more. Did he want to be arousing for his mate? He thought about it for a moment and came to the conclusion, that yes, he wanted that. But wouldn't that be a bit unfair? After all, he was not yet ready to take their physical relationship too far, no further than last night anyway. Would Lucius appreciate it despite that fact? His mate had mentioned that he would buy Harry some new clothes as well, so he could wait until then and see what kind of clothing his mate would choose for him; if he really would buy him new things.
Lucius probably would, but he was at Grimmauld Place now and there was no way that the man would stroll in here and give him a huge package and Harry didn't know when he would see his mate again. Hopefully at least for a few days before next term, that was if he succeeded in taking over the Order and introducing the aristocrat as new spy; but after school had started, he would be lucky to see him now and then in Snape's office or at Headquarters.
He felt himself getting agitated at the thought of the next few months and quickly took a bonbon from his small leather bag on his belt, remembering Snape's words that they might calm him down and they did, at least a bit. The taste of blood was so good and soothing after the tasteless hot chocolate.
A knock sounded at the door and Ginny stepped inside, her eyes instantly landing on him.
"Are you here already?" Ron asked curiously.
His sister just nodded and then said: "Mum sent me; lunch will be ready in fifteen minutes."
Harry watched her going over to her brother’s bed and flopping down. He felt slightly annoyed; she was still eyeing him with those big brown orbs that were far to soft for his liking. He wanted to look into eyes of silver that were cold like fire made from ice and sharp like a double edged knife, promising him forbidden pleasures and a fierce protector.
Harry was horrified to notice that he had been staring back into her eyes, when the girl suddenly blushed and the strong smell of shy embarrassment reached his nose. He forced himself to not wrinkle the offended appendage and quickly smiled before turning back to his empty trunk, closing it and shoving it under his bed so that it would not stand in his way. Then he sat down and pulled Nagini into his lap.
"She smells wrong, she has her eyes set on you," the large reptile hissed.
"I know, but she is my best friend’s sister and I have to keep my mate a secret for no, or he will be in danger, so I have to cope with her," Harry explained.
Ginny's eyes landed on his familiar and widened, but someone had obviously warned her, because she said nothing about her, instead she mumbled:
"You look good, Harry. Have you grown or something?"
Harry wanted to snort; so much had changed with his body, everybody could probably see that, even with his glamour, but he had certainly not grown. "No, I haven't," he simply said and then turned the conversation away from himself: "How has your summer been?"
She smiled brightly at him and Harry hoped that she would not misinterpret his interest. Sure, he liked her; she was nice and his best friend’s sister, so it was just natural to ask those type questions, wasn't it? But her happy face was all too bright:
"It was great! I spend a lot of time with my friends and I even got my own pygmy puff. Her name is Stella and she is currently in my room taking a nap, but if you want, you can come over later and I can introduce you to her, she is really nice and cuddly. You will like her!" She told him at an inhuman pace and Harry had some trouble processing all her words. Finally it caught up to him that she had practically invited him into her room and he shuddered inwardly, thinking that her motives were anything but innocent and even if she really just wanted to show him her new pet, he guessed that he didn't find pygmy puffs as interesting as she did. The animals were quite useless and stupid, nothing in comparison to Nagini or even Hedwig. Seeing, that she waited for an answer he said non-committedly: "I will see if I find the time later."
Ron who had caught his helpless look quickly helped him out: "We plan on playing a game of Quidditch, so I don't think that he will have time today."
Ginny pouted, but then her face brightened again: "I will join you guys, after all, there needs to be at least one girl."
"Yeah, sure," Ron said, looking apologetically over at Harry, who shrugged, not knowing how to politely get rid of her either.
"I think we should go down now," Hermione interrupted their conversation with a glance at her watch. "fifteen minutes are nearly over."
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
HP
They left the room and went downstairs. When they entered the kitchen, Arthur, Fred, George and Charley were already around the table, waving when they saw Harry entering.
"Hey Harry, we heard you had to live with our favourite Potions Teacher for the last two weeks?" Fred grinned.
Harry made the same face he had made when Ron had asked him about his last weeks:
"Let's just say, you can learn to live with anyone," that was at least not a lie.
"Sure, as long as it is not a Malfoy," Charlie chuckled.
"You are speaking wise words," George laughed.
What problem did they all have with the Malfoy’s? He would even agree to that statement for Draco and probably Narcissa, but Lucius was really different than the other two. His mate was very caring and protective, a true family person if you gave him the chance. Sighing inwardly, he realized that some day in the future his mating would turn out to be a scandal.
Molly had turned around to put a large pan on the table and hurried over when she saw Harry and pulled him into a hug, pan still in one hand: "Harry my dear, how have you been? We were all so worried, when we could not find you or Severus. I feared the worst!"
Harry hugged her back: "Snape kept me safe; there was no way that Voldemort could have gotten to me. Dumbledore distracted him long enough luckily."
"Arthur said the same, but still..." she drew in a shaky breath and Harry realized for the first time that Molly really had adopted him into her family. He hugged her even tighter, until she squeaked in surprise: "Not so tight! Harry, have you gotten stronger?"
Harry blinked in confusion, before quickly letting her go and sitting back down. In comparison to his dominant he was so weak that he had not realized how strong he had gotten until now.
"I am sorry Molly, I just was so happy to see you again."
Molly's eyes softened. She patted his cheek before returning to the stove. Harry swirled his bonbon around in his mouth and turned to the pan, eyeing the tomato sauce with vegetables. He really was not hungry, even less when he looked at the food and the smell started to make him slightly queasy. How could he eat something like this when the memory of Lucius’ delicious blood was still so fresh in his mind and he could still almost taste him on his tongue? The chocolate had been bad enough for one day.
"It smells delicious, doesn't it?"
Harry turned his head only to see that Ginny had sat down next to him. Mentally sighing, he said: "It does, your mum is a better cook than I am," he said.
"You can cook?" Ginny asked with interest, a sweet smile on her lips.
"I can. My aunt taught me," he described the situation at the Dursley’s place carefully. "I had to cook the last two weeks, or Snape would have probably starved down in the new Potions Lab he had set in my relative’s cellar."
Ginny wrinkled her nose: "It would have been no great loss."
A wooden spoon landed painfully on her head and she turned to glare at her mother, who only glared back: "Ginevra Weasley! I will not hear such foul words from your mouth again, is that understood? I know the man from my own school days, he was a bit younger than your father and I and he was never a bad person! Moody, yes, especially after...that doesn't matter, but he is a great man and the Order would not save half as many people without him!"
"But mum!" Ginny whined. Harry was pleased that at least one other person did not hate the Potions Master; the man really deserved some more appreciation.
Sirius, Remus and Arthur came down as well and Molly placed a large bowl with rice next to the pan, before they all started to fill their plates.
"So, who wants to play Quidditch after lunch?"Ron asked loud enough for everyone to hear. Sirius grinned widely and said: "I am on a team with Harry and Remi!"
"What?" Remus asked incredulously.
"Don't try to argue, you are a decent player, you will join us," Sirius commanded.
"We will join you, too," Fred and George smiled, shortly followed by Charley and even Arthur, which made Molly raise a concerned eyebrow. In the end, it was only Molly and Hermione who didn't want to play and they were persuaded quickly by the others.
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
HP
So after lunch they all went outside and they split into two teams and it was decided, that Harry, Sirius, Remus, Ron and Hermione would have one player less than the other team, because Harry's talent apparently counted for two; at least, that was what Fred declared loudly and the game started.
Harry had never seen Remus, Sirius, Molly or Arthur on a broom before and their skills were quite different. Remus was a steady flyer, not as good as Sirius or even Fred and George, but a far cry from bad. In contrast to that, Harry could not watch Arthur on a broom, he always feared that the man would drop from his flying vehicle, so unsteady was his flying. Molly had been a beater herself she told the others, who gaped at her. She was very good and had a hard punch and Harry wished he could add the fierce women to his Gryffindor team so that they would wipe the floor with the Slytherins next year. Sirius was quick and agile and the best chaser he had ever seen. Once he had the quaffle, he never let the red ball go.
Ginny had changed her jeans to a more fitting pair of sports trousers, the only problem Harry had with that was that the shorts were really short, especially considering that she was sitting on a broom. He had a feeling that she had chosen the pants with a purpose. Harry noticed that Sirius and Remus turned always away in disgust, only to search for the others eyes, making Harry wonder if it was because of Ginny or because of her being a girl.
He as well turned always away from the sight of her. If he wanted to see smooth skin, he would just go to Lucius, he had smooth skin as well and his legs were even muscled and strong, hard and unyielding like the rest of his mate’s perfect body.
In the end, both teams were equally strong and it was only Harry's outstanding talent as a seeker which granted his team victory.
"Well done mate!" Fred flung an arm around his shoulders and patted him.
"Very formidable!" George added, but Harry was growling again. He knew he should not react so violently whenever someone called him their ‘mate’, but it was like a primary instinct.
"You shouldn't call him that," Ron appeared suddenly next to him.
"Why..."
"...not?" the twins asked curiously.
"He doesn't like it. Apparently Snape taunted him with that title the whole of the last two weeks."
Harry was glad that, whatever suspicion his best friend had about his extreme reaction, he didn't voice it out loud. The twins winced in sympathy and nodded their consent.
"Just call him man or something like that, I try to get used to it as well," Ron suggested.
"Harry, you should know that we don't mean it as an insult. Don't let Snape get to you like this," Hermione said, climbing from her broom.
"I know," Harry sighed. "But I can't control myself. It is stupid, I shouldn't react like this, but at the moment I just do..."
His bushy haired friend frowned, but said nothing more and they went back to the town house in comfortable silence. Molly passed them hurriedly, announcing that she would prepare some sandwiches and that they all should come downstairs in half an hour.
"Hey Harry, wanna see my pygmy puff now?" Ginny chimed and Fred and George, who saw his tortured expression and always looked for an opportunity to tease their little sister grinned wickedly:
"Wanna see my pygmy puff?" George echoed.
"That just sounds so wrong, dear little sister..." Fred cringed and George ended for good measure:
"Like a code for: Shall I show you my tits?"
Ginny grew beet red and she glared angrily at her older brothers: "That was not what I meant! You know that dad bought me a new pygmy puff!"
"Yeah, yeah," the twins snickered.
Harry, who really didn't want to visit the girl all alone in her room and thought that the twins were probably right with their assumption, quickly said: "Sorry Gin, but I really have to take a shower. I am smelling."
"But maybe afterwards?" She asked and Harry quickly nodded before hurrying of. He could agree to a maybe.
Up in their shared room he collected his toiletries, just as his friends stepped inside.
"I still think you two would make a cute couple. But when you can't see her as a girlfriend, there is nothing we can do, not even Ginny herself, she should realize that," Hermione sighed.
"She should realize it soon," Ron muttered, obviously annoyed with his little sister.
"Well, I will go get a shower, see you later," Harry said and left the two to their own devices, going upstairs to another landing for the main bathroom.
Luckily, it was still empty and so he quickly locked the door behind him, just to make sure that nobody could follow him. He really didn't need to take showers anymore. Being dead, meant not only that he was always cold unless he was in the arms of his mate and that he could not differ between temperatures very well anymore, but also that he did not sweat or perspire in any way. The only time he really needed a shower after an activity was after a sexual encounter with Lucius. He was not sure if he could only smell the scent of sex so strongly because of his new powers, or if others could as well and he would not take the chance of them finding out anything anytime soon. Furthermore, Remus also had a keen nose due to his werewolf Moony.
Ten minutes later he was cleaned and dried and back in his clothes.
He met Nagini in the hallway in front of his room; the reptile was just rising to open the door when she noticed him coming:
"I had to hunt some garden gnomes for lunch. They taste awful, but at least, you don't have to worry about feeding me," she announced.
"Thank you, Nagini. How many are some?" he asked, eyeing the huge snake.
"Maybe fifteen...they are so small. Not much flesh," Nagini mused.
"Well, no one will miss them, least of all Mrs Weasley. Maybe we should take you to her garden some day, the gnomes there really are a plague."
The reptile pushed open the door and slithered inside, Harry following her quickly before the door could close again.
"I still have to get used to her. She is a frightening sight," Ron said, but eyed the snake without any hate or fear.
"She really is nice. It's just sad that you can't talk to her, or you could prove it yourself," Harry said and dropped his wet towel over a chair.
"It would really be interesting to talk to a snake. I would have so many questions," Hermione sighed dreamily.
Harry rolled his eyes inwardly, sometimes it seemed as if there was nothing more important to Hermione than to gain more knowledge.
"Harry," Ron called him and he turned around to face the redhead.
"I think you should really go and visit my sister," he said, smiling.
Harry sighed exasperatedly, he had thought that Ron was on his side, but apparently he was wrong.
"Why?" he asked dryly.
"Because she asked you so nicely and for the second time already and because I still have some clothes of hers in my trunk that would not fit in her own and I need to take them to her."
A wide grin spread over his face and he nodded eagerly. This way, Ginny could not say that he had not visited her and he would not be alone with the freckled girl.
"That is actually a good solution," Hermione praised him.
"I know, that's why I suggested it," Ron smirked and opened the door. Ginny's room was just at the end of the dark hallway.
"Where are you going?" Nagini called after Harry.
"To Ginny," he answered and when his familiar only frowned he elaborated: "The girl who wants to mate with me."
It seemed he had chosen the right words, because the snake nodded in understanding and followed him: "I will come with you. There will be no threat to the mate of my master."
"Okay," Harry agreed and after a curious look from Ron they went over to the other room. Hermione caught up to them just as Harry was about to knock, explaining: "Even if I think that a relationship would do you some good, you are my best friend and I will help you no matter what."
Harry smiled thankfully at her and finally knocked.
Ginny opened with a bright smile, which disappeared quickly, when she saw not only Harry, but the entire small group in front of her room. She glared over Harry's shoulder at Ron, who wasn't impressed in the least, but then said: "Come in, I almost thought you couldn't make it after all."
"I was faster than I thought I would be," Harry smiled and flopped down on the bed. Ginny made a step in his direction, but before she could sit down next to him, Hermione shoved her to the side:
"Make some room for me, please. I am so tired after the match." To underline her words, she let herself fall backwards, spreading her arm across the mattress and sighing heavily.
Ginny's look darkened and she turned to his brother to snap: "So, why did you all come?"
"I still had some of your stuff," Ron pushed a pile of shirts in her arms. "Really, I don't understand why you need so much clothing for only two weeks. You have to go over to the Burrow to pack your school trunk anyway; there was really no need to pack all these things."
"Of course you don't understand, you are a boy after all," Ginny hissed.
"Actually, I do not understand it either," Hermione shrugged.
"Well, you are... a different kind of girl than I am," Ginny said nonchalantly before asking: "And you Hermione?"
"We are friends, why should I not visit you as well?" Hermione mused; she really could pull off this stupid act if she wanted. Of course, Harry mused, one would only believe it if the topic had something to do with feelings and interpersonal relationship and not with stuff you could learn from a book, but that was not required right now.
"So, you wanted to show me your new pet?" Harry asked, drawing Ginny's attention back to him.
"Yes," she turned searchingly and finally went over to a pile of shirts that lay on the ground to pick up something very pink and fluffy.
"This is Stella, isn't she cute?" she asked, holding the pink thing, that clashed horribly with her hair, out to Harry; he didn't need to be a Malfoy to notice that she should have picked one in another colour instead of this bright neon pink. He pet the small creature, who eyed him through half lidded eyes. It really was a boring animal. The pygmy puff barely moved, contend to sit still and be petted and it made no sound either.
"It looks more like a snack than an adequate familiar," Nagini hissed from the ground, making Ginny screech as she had not yet noticed the large reptile.
"I really can't understand how you could choose such an ugly familiar. A snake is not cuddly, or cute and everybody is scared of her. Even if she had not been Voldemort's pet before, she would not suit you. You are a Gryffindor and should not be accompanied by the symbol of the Slytherins," she huffed.
Harry’s eyes flashed angrily: "Nagini is intelligent and friendly and yes, she is dangerous and everybody is scared of her, but that makes her the ideal familiar for me, after all, I am still hunted by a mad man."
He was really angry with her. Sure, she was Ron's sister, but she had gone too far and even if she had been his girlfriend, she would not have the right to question his choice of pet like this. He was still his own person and not an accessory for a girl to show off. Lucius would never try to change him like this.
"But you can't be sure that she would protect you against her old master," Ginny argued.
"Voldemort was never her master, only her captor and I can be sure of her loyalty, because she has been tortured by him as much as myself, maybe even more," Harry said harshly.
Ginny recoiled and took a deep breath, clearly noticing that she was making her crush seriously mad at her. Smiling sweetly she said: "I am sorry, Harry. I should not have doubted you; after all, you always did the right thing until now. You are brave and intelligent and always had the right intuition when it came to people's loyalties and true intention. Why should you be wrong with a snake? Do you accept my apology?"
Harry knew it was only sweet talk and it made him nauseous; he smiled back, he had to live with her in close proximity for the next couple of days, after that he could keep out of her way, Hogwarts was big enough for that.
"I accept your apology," he confirmed and at the next moment she was hugging him.
"Thank you Harry," after she had righted herself she suggested all too innocently: "I have packed the things away, so you can go back to your room Ron, and relax a bit until dinner and I think mum would appreciate your help with the dinner, Hermione."
Harry watched Hermione's chest rise and fall, a sign that she was trying to suppress a heavy and probably annoyed sigh.
"I am really tired right now, but Harry, you mentioned that you know how to cook. Could you go downstairs this time?" the brainy witch asked and Harry knew that Ginny was really badly annoying her with her refusal to take the hint that he was not interested in her.
"Sure Mione," he agreed and stood, picking Nagini up and wrapping her around his body, before leaving his friends behind who would surely annoy Ginny for a little while longer.
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
HP
The dinner turned out to be a loud and happy affair, with everybody still excited about their earlier match. Only Ginny was grumpy, but no one took much notice. It was already late when they were finally finished with eating and Ron and Hermione went to their room, but Harry was not yet tired. As a vampire he didn't need as much sleep as a human, especially since the sun didn't force him into unconsciousness any longer. When he had been at Privet Drive at the Dursley’s, he had loved to cuddle up to Lucius and let his mate’s body warm his and fall asleep in the safety of the man's strong arms. Without all that, sleep seemed only unnecessary and unappealing as well.
So he walked into the dusty lounge, where he found Sirius and Remus, and sat down in an old armchair.
"Hey kiddo, tell us a bit more about your joyful week with Snivellus," Sirius greeted him with a wide grin.
Harry wished he could tell the man that the two last weeks, or at least the last one had been one of the best he ever had, maybe even the best of all of them, even with Snape being there, but that was once again not an option. Instead he said for the third time that day:
"Privet Drive is now in possession of a Potions Lab. I believe it is one even I cannot enter."
Sirius made a face and Remus chuckled. The werewolf had always been more accepting of Snape, even though he didn't like him much either, but Remus was able to see Snape's talents and his value for the Order.
"It was not that bad, really. At least in the end we came to some sort of understanding," he finally said, because he really wished to defend the man who had helped him so much in the last days at least; a bit and honestly: Snape deserved it, at least, the man had always been honest with him.
"Really?" Remus asked curiously and Sirius growled.
"He will still pay for insulting you so often, even if it was not his duty to save you and stay with you, you still gave him a bed and cooked for him and were probably even polite," his godfather snapped.
"It really was not as bad," Harry tried to calm Sirius down, but without much success, instead Remus agreed with him:
"Harry, Sirius is right, it must have been bad if you still cannot stand to be called someone's best mate."
The familiar growl was rising in his chest once again, but he quickly stopped it; this would be the worst moment ever to growl over the title. If he gave into his instincts now, he could just stop to defend his Professor.
"But we really came to a understanding in the end," Harry argued once more.
"Has he at least checked your hand thoroughly? I can't imagine that there is nothing he can do about the scar. As much as I hate him and as much as I hate to admit it, he is the best at potions," Sirius grumbled.
"He has," Harry lied smoothly. "He searched for days and I had to try all kinds of healing potions and salves, but nothing helped," He shrugged nonchalantly, sticking to the story he had told earlier: "But it was a curse of Voldemort’s, I really didn't expect that he could do something about it."
"It probably was a very dark curse," Remus mused darkly.
"Yeah," Harry agreed.
"Let me see it cub, it can't be so bad and I am your godfather after all," Sirius reached for his hand, but Harry hastily cradled it against his chest.
"No, it is really nasty," he refused and scooted into one corner of his armchair.
Sirius sighed heavily: "You can trust me Harry."
"I know, but if I show it to you, I have to see it myself and I don't want to see it," he protested vehemently.
Remus opened his mouth to help his friend, but at that moment the fireplace lit up with green flames and Severus Snape stepped out like a large shadow into the room, a small trunk in one hand. Harry watched him smoothing out his robes; the man had not yet seen him or Sirius and Remus for that matter.
"I thought you wouldn't arrive until tomorrow," he said in a way of greeting. His professor turned around, a carefully neutral expression on his face, but no sign of his usual sneer, he had given Harry all the previous years.
"Hello Harry," he greeted smoothly and Harry knew at that particular moment that the stress wasn't over yet. He glared at the Potions Master, who had until now not taken his offer to call him by his first name and he could clearly see that the man had just done it to get a rise out of Sirius, and he was succeeding:
"Harry? Since when does the git call you by your first name?" Sirius bellowed.
"Since I offered him to forego my title and he accepted," Snape said patiently, a small smirk on his lips.
"What?" Sirius roared and Remus had to grab him by his arm quickly to prevent the man from harming the other.
"Sirius please, I told you that we came to some sort of an agreement," Harry pleaded exasperatedly, but his godfather didn't listen:
"You have no right to call him Harry. You could not help him with his scar and you taunted him so much, that he cannot stand it anymore when his best friend calls him mate!"
Harry hoped that the man would pick up on his lies and support him with his excuse for not wanting to be called mate by anyone. He had some luck, at least partially. Obviously ignoring the comment about his taunting Harry he asked:
"Which scar?"
"The scar on his right hand!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Padfoot, please calm down! Harry told you, that he tried everything to heal it, but it is a dark curse. Not even Snape can make a scar disappear inflicted by the darkest wizard alive, or he would have done something for Harry's lightning bolt scar long ago!" Remus growled and pulled his friend a bit further away from the Potions Master.
Harry saw understanding flashing in those black eyes and Snape sneered at Sirius: "What else do you expect of me? As a member of the Black family, you should know that there are some curses which cause permanent damage. But you always cared about ignoring your upbringing, wanting only to be a perfect Gryffindor and thus making yourself useless for the Order."
Harry winced. Need the man go so far to back up his story?
"Take that back you slimy bastard!" Sirius was growling by now.
"Can't stand the truth, mutt?" Severus sneered, clearly determined to drive the knife in further:
"If you had listened to your parents sometimes, you could be of much more use, but as it is, you are not even able to recognize the most common dark curses. Why Dumbledore even allows you to work for the Order is a mystery to me, even Arthur has more knowledge. But at least you provide us with a headquarters and as for insulting Harry: If the boy is so fragile that he cannot stand some taunting, how do you expect him to survive the war? Or do you not expect him to at all?" Without a glance backwards he picked up his trunk once again and disappeared upstairs.
Harry sighed heavily, he had wanted to ask Snape how things had gone with Voldemort, but after the little row with Sirius, there was no need to go upstairs now, Snape would currently not even answer him probably. Hopefully, Snape's quick disappearance meant that everything had gone according to plan, he surely would have told him otherwise. Wouldn't he?
Looking up again, Harry could see that Sirius was seething. His godfather’s fists were clenching and unclenching and his chest was rising and falling rapidly. The strong scent of rage filled the room and Harry wanted to go upstairs or visit a nice smelling flower garden. Luckily he could not smell every emotion, only those which were very strong, but sadly that often meant that he smelled the bad ones, they tended to be more abundant than the really strong good ones.
"One day I will kill him!" Sirius growled.
"Enough!" Remus snapped, who had apparently reached the end of his patience: "Harry has told you often enough that he has finally come to a understanding with his professor and you are on a strong path to destroy that understanding once again! Do you want to make your godson's life even more complicated than it already is?"
To Harry's surprise Sirius seemed to deflate at the words. The animagus hung his head and dropped back down onto his seat: "No, of course not Moony, but everything he says..."
"I know. I don't like him either, but Harry has to see him every week in class and it would be much easier for him if Snape doesn't insults him all the time or at least not as harshly as before," Remus said.
"I don't think that their understanding will make a lot of difference. Harry still is a Gryffindor and Snivellus has to favour his Slytherins after all," Sirius scoffed and Harry actually had to agree with that. Silently of course; he would not destroy all the work Remus had done of calming the dog- animagus down.
"Harry will never find that out if you jump the man at every opportunity. Just stick to your usual insults, but don't blow up like this. He could think that Harry has complained about him, even though he tried to help him and we cannot forget that he did save Harry at King's Cross," Remus had let go of Sirius’ arm and was now patting the abused appendage, where a bright blue and purple bruise was forming. Remus really was strong, Harry thought absentmindedly.
"But I won't be polite to him!" Sirius huffed, sounding like a pouting child.
"No one expects that," Remus reassured him.
"No one would think you capable of being polite to him," Harry grinned and stood up. "I think I will head off for bed now. It has been a long day."
"Good night, Harry," Remus said, and Sirius winked at him.
Ron and Hermione were already fast asleep and Harry noticed for the first time how loud breathing could be. Hopefully he would get his own room at Hogwarts, because if he had to live with Neville and Seamus’ snoring for an entire year he would go mad with his keen vampire hearing. Going silently over to the bed, he undressed and wanted to climb under the blanked naked, when luckily he remembered that his friends would certainly notice it the next morning and quickly pulled Lucius’ shirt from under the pillow. He cast a preserving spell on it, so that Lucius' scent would not fade or be overpowered by his own and slipped it over his head. It nearly reached his knees and covered all his assets, so he didn't need to search for a pair of underpants. To be honest, he wasn't sure if he possessed any at this point. He had thrown many away at Hogwarts, thinking that he could get new hand-me-downs from his cousins or even buy some new at Diagon Alley, but he had not done that in the end and he thought that he might have seen Lucius going to the trash can with a suspicious pile of white clothing.
Laying down in the darkness, Harry found himself still not very tired and on top of that now, without any distractions he realized just how much he missed Lucius. His skin was so cold without the warming touch of his mate and the comforter didn't help any. He missed his smooth, velvet like voice and the strong arms that would pull him against an even stronger body.
Harry also missed the quiet company, the fact that he could always go to the aristocrat and snuggle into his lap or just talk to him or persuade him to play a game of chess he would surely lose, and those sharp nails stroking his neck.
He wanted to know what Lucius was doing right now and if he missed him as much as he missed the older man. Surely he would, they were mates after all, or at least, he hoped that he would miss him. Harry knew that they still didn't know too much about each other and that he was still a bit shy and didn't do as much physical explorations as Lucius might wish, but at the same time, he was sure that it didn't bother his dominant. At the beginning, he had asked himself if he would be able to satisfy the older man who had so much more experience, but after their first exchange of blood, his instincts had become much stronger and they reassured him of his relationship. He was as important to Lucius as the man was to him. Maybe, it was not quite love yet, but that would come and there was no way that their relationship would break up.
A heavy weight settled on his bed and slithered over his small body. Harry pulled Nagini to his chest; who sensed his loneliness and curled protectively around him, hissing soothing noises, like a mother would do or a very good friend. Burrowing his nose in his mate’s button-down, he closed his eyes and imagined that it wasn't Nagini’s long body wrapped around him, but Lucius', and finally drifted off to sleep.
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A Different Kind of Hero